Fly Away
by the frozen cherry
Summary: Things have finally got to Rachel, she needs to fly away.  Two-shot
1. Chapter 1

Contrary to what Rachel had hoped, things had gone downhill from regionals. The Glee Club's acceptance of her had only lasted until the joy of winning regionals and making it to nationals had finally worn off. The club had gone back to its hating-Rachel ways.

She felt so alone; prom was coming in a couple of weeks and everyone seemed to have someone else. Her new friends were now very busy with their relationships, Kurt had recently transferred back to McKinley but now had a boyfriend, Blaine, and Mercedes would not stop talking about how Matt was coming back to take her to prom. Rachel had no one.

Glee practises were becoming unbearable; all her ideas for nationals were being shot down by certain members of the group, Santana and Quinn particularly. She did not feel in the mood for singing anymore. There was nobody to talk to, nobody who could understand. Was she so horrible that nobody wanted to be with her? Her mother decided that she didn't want to be her mother and adopted a replacement, her fathers were always on business trips most of the time, far away from home, and she had gone through three boyfriends in the last year - the last one, Finn, breaking her heart into tiny pieces. She had tried to be strong, but she was beginning to crumble. Mr Schuester did nothing about it; even he didn't seem to like her.

Rachel had her dream: to star on Broadway and win numerous Tony awards. Singing was all she had; it was her emotional outlet. She knew she was the most talented in the group and gave the club her all, but it now started to dawn on her that they only wanted her for her voice.

Walking down the hall, Rachel felt, for the second time that day, the familiar sensation of a cold, sticky slushy being thrown at her face. Wiping the cherry flavoured drink from her eyes, she ran to the nearest bathroom to begin her familiar, tried-and-tested slushy removal operation. Glee was the only thing she had left in the school day, so as long as she stayed quiet she could go home. Actually, she thought, why bother going to Glee at all? They wouldn't really miss her.

Yes.

Determined, she emerged from the bathroom, head down, and moved quickly through the busy hallway towards her locker, hoping no one noticed her slushy-stained clothes. There was only a certain number of spares one could bring to school.

'Nice clothes, man-hands!' one bitchy cheerio remarked. 'Not only do you dress like a toddler, but you now have mess all down you!'

Rachel persevered on, despite the fact that her normally bright facade was cracking, traitor tears welling up in her eyes.

'Berry!' she heard someone calling. 'Berry, wait up!' The voice was getting closer now, no doubt another tormentor.

'Berry, are you ok? What happened to you' Puck asked, staring at her red stained jumper. He looked genuinely concerned for her.

Noah, the only person in her life at the moment who even remotely cared about her. He had just broken up with his girlfriend, Lauren, after she had dumped him to boost her Prom Queen campaign. In the past week she had talked and listened to him, but it was always in private. The Noah she knew was completely different to the Puck which came through in school. Noah was nice and he cared. Even more than her own fathers, it seemed, who were more concerned with their jobs and personal lives at the moment.

'I just need to get away from it all, Noah,' Rachel replied in a small voice. She then shut her locker and walked away as he stared after her. He was not very good at dealing with crying chicks.


	2. Chapter 2

It was the after school Glee rehearsal. Mr Schuester came running through the door, late as usual, with a huge grin on his face.

'Okay, kids,' he announced proudly to the class. 'This week's assignment is dreams.'

The group began discussing ideas noisily, thinking about what the teacher had meant by dreams. Will scanned the room.

Wait a second. There's someone missing. Rachel.

He knew he had missed Rachel's annoying list of song suggestions which normally hit him as he entered the choir room. Then again, come to think of it, truthfully, that hadn't really happened much recently.

'Wait a sec, guys,' he asked. 'Has anyone seen Rachel?'

The room was silent; no one had noticed the absence of the resident diva.

_I need to get away from it all_

'Damn it Berry!' Puck shouted, whacking his hand to his forehead

'What is it, Puck?' asked Mr Schue

'I know where she is,' he replied, beginning to stand up. 'She's somewhere she goes to escape, but also somewhere where she can really harm herself.'

'What? The auditorium?' Quinn remarked scathingly.

'No, somewhere more private,' he retorted, getting more and more frustrated with all this time wasting. 'Look, I can't explain right now, just come with me.'

Puck ran out of the choir room, the rest of the intrigued club following behind him as he ran to the nearest set of stairs and climbed up, skipping every other step, until he reached the door which opened out onto the school rooftop.

'She's on the roof?' Mr Schue asked.

'Mr Schuester, you should know that Rachel is in a bad place at the moment, a really bad place. She likes coming to the roof, because she likes to see the sky and stars, which makes it seem that she is closer to her dream, or some crazy shit like that.

'She's one of the bravest people I know,' he continued. 'I don't know anyone else who could deal with the level of crap she has to deal with at the moment and now she's finally starting to crack. In school, she doesn't deserve to be bullied and tormented by those who hate the Glee club, let alone those in the Glee club 'family'. What has she ever done to them? Even you, Mr Schue, you turn a blind eye to what everyone in this group, this family, does to her. What type of family treats its members like shit? She's the best singer we've got, and yet we punish her for it!'

Mr Schue and the rest of the listening Glee club started to look slightly ashamed of their actions, faint traces of guilt appearing on a few faces.

'Have you ever noticed,' Puck continued, getting stronger, staring each member of the club in the eye, 'that her Dads, whom she loves, never come to watch her stunning performances? No? That's because they're too busy with their work to really bother with her any more. She is home alone for most of the term. They are too wrapped up in their own lives to spare a thought for her! Rach has spent the last week at my house, crying her eyes out to my mum - the nearest thing to a mother figure she has ever had - since her real one abandoned her.'

'I'm really sorry Puck. I did'nt know. I don't think any of us knew - ,' Tina appealed to her fellow group members for support.

'Well, now you do.'

With that, Noah opened the door to the roof garden, only usually used by the school's horticulture society in the summer. Most of the time it was abandoned, the perfect place to hide out. Rachel and Noah had discovered it while they briefly dated last year.

'Rach, where are you?' he shouted with a sense of urgency.

He caught sight of her leaning over the railings which ran around the perimeter of the roof, a feeble attempt to stop students falling off the five-storey building. Her eyes were closed and he could hear she was whispering a prayer to herself in Hebrew.

'Berry, step back!' he cried. 'Rachel, please!'

'Why should I, Noah?' came the reply. 'Tell me, why should I, when nobody wants me? No one would miss me.'

'The Glee club would. We need you for Nationals!'

'They only want me for my voice, not because they like me!'

'Your parents would miss you.' He was trying to keep his voice from shaking, hoping Rachel wouldn't hear the faint quake in his words.

'My dads and I haven't really conversed with each other properly since the beginning of the summer, when they told me that they were going on a two month cruise which would hopefully fix their relationship for the whole summer.'

'Think what it would do to my family,' Noah pleaded, taking a step closer to the crying girl.

'They could survived without me.'

'Really? Think what it would do to my Mum and Dani. Dani would miss you. Who else would sing with her and do maths homework at the same time?'

'I just can't do this anymore!'

'Damn it, Rach!' Noah implored desperately. 'I need you.'

'Why Noah?'

'Because, Berry,' Noah said almost hesitantly, to the shocked Glee club, who had now gathered around to watch the scene unfold, too scared to get involved. Some had unnoticed tears running down their cheeks. 'I love you.'

'You love me?' Rachel asked, turning round to face Noah and taking a subconscious step away from the edge.

'I love your passion and your craziness.' he continued more confidently. 'The way your smile can light up a room, the way you try to help everyone and are so stuck on your dreams, dreams that will make you fly all the way out of Lima.'

With this declaration, Rachel ran full force into Noah's opened arms 'I'm so sorry No-No,' she cried, calling him by his childhood nickname.

'I was so fucking scared, Berry,' he said, wrapping his arms tighly around the tiny girl and burying his nose into her sweet-smelling hair. 'Just never do anything like that to me again,' he whispered softly.

With that, Noah leant down and gave Rachel a very passionate kiss, right on the roof top of the school, under the setting sun, right in front of the amazed Glee club.

* * *

><p>It was next week in Glee; a lot had happened between that incident and the present meeting. Noah and Rachel had officially started going out and she had moved in with his family, to the delight of Mrs Puckerman. The Glee club had also started being nicer to Rachel, realising what she had done for all of them in their own times of need.<p>

Rachel now stood, somewhat shyly at the front of the choir room ready to sing. She closed her eyes.

Everything was not going to get better over night, she realised, but it was a start, and now she knew that there was somebody looking out for her, who genuinely loved her. Hearing the opening chords, she started to sing, getting lost in the music.

_I follow the night_  
><em>Can't stand the light<em>  
><em>When will I begin to live again<em>

_One day I'll fly away_  
><em>Leave all this to yesterday<em>  
><em>What more could your love do for me<em>  
><em>When will love be through with me<em>  
><em>Why live life from dream to dream<em>  
><em>And dread the day when dreaming ends<em>

_One day I'll fly away_  
><em>Leave all this to yesterday<em>  
><em>Why live life from dream to dream<em>  
><em>And dread the day when dreaming ends<em>

_One day I'll fly away_

_Fly fly away..._

* * *

><p><em>Thanks to everyone who has read, alerted and reviewed, it means a lot to me. <em>  
><em>Please drop be a little review to let me know what you thought and what you think I could improve!<em>  
><em>Thanks again! ~Cherry<em>

Glee and 'One day I'll fly away' from Moulin Rouge do not belong to me :(

Edited 04/25/11


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